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Wednesday, 24 January 2018

How Anxiety and Depression Can Affect Reading and Writing

(Notebook quote by Alexandra Bracken, notebook from a subscription box)

This is just from personal experience.

You become even better at procrastinating. You avoid the things that bring you joy because they require mental power: energy that your brain just wants to use on thinking about anything else but your, or anyone else’s book world.

You find it difficult to concentrate for very long, your brain wanting to go back to worrying and obsessing.

If a book isn’t a quick, intriguing read, it takes a very long time to get through and you will be tempted to abandon it and start something new.

Goals make you feel stressed but if you don’t have them then you can easily not write for a long time, you spend this time thinking about writing, rather than actually doing it because the fear of starting is too great.

You find it difficult to spend free time thinking about your book world because your mind wants to focus on anxiety instead.

I find there is a lack of articles out there on writing and reading when you have anxiety and depression. A lot of readers online with anxiety or depression seem to spend a lot of time reading but I have found that this is not the same for me, I can pick up a book and feel very interested after a while and read a lot in one or two days but most of the time I will spend drifting between books and spending more time thinking that I should read than actually doing it. However, I am working on this, finding that I need to push myself to do things that I enjoy because I do enjoy them.

Have any of you had or still have similar experiences? Feel free to share in the comments if you would like to.

If you are suffering with any symptoms of a mental illness please visit your doctor and please do not give up.

Finally, someone who understand!! Ive seen a lot of anxious & depressive peiple saying they can get lost in books - for me it hasn’t been the case.. my brain prefering doing that in games, instead. Ive felt disconnected and sooo guilty of going from an « over reader » to a very slow one.. but it’s not quite my fault!

My brain was slower to concentrate on words & therefore not making images and making me inside the book... which gets really boring for me. i wanna escape IN IT!! If it doesn’t after a few pages I get uninterrested and just close it .. that’s not what I signed for x) It seems to be getting better for me, however! As my medication is now settled with my hormones and all, I get my imagination to keep going again! (Buuut im still slow ...)

Hi Kristina! I totally get that, I think it might just be a matter of getting yourself to stick with the book for a while until it picks up but it is difficult, I end up starting so many books! I'm glad that you are feeling a bit better and that you keep trying :)